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What better way is there to spend multiple consecutive weekends than sitting at your computer, redesigning a mechanism that has existed for decades, all to be able to 3D print something that can be bought at the store for less than $1? ... That's right, anything. However, when your co-worker throws down the gauntlet there is only one thing to do. Take it up.

This is how the 3D printed mechanical pencil came to be. Luckily though, it actually works pretty well and has enough style to spare.
This pencil has 4 separate parts and was printed fully assembled as shown in the image below. Its about 6" long and 1/2" in diameter at its maximum, not including the pocket clip. It takes standard 0.9mm lead and 7mm diameter erasers. Three extra pieces of lead can be stored behind the eraser. I would have liked to do a more common lead size like 0.7mm or 0.5mm but the feature sizes required to hold lead that small are very difficult to achieve even on high resolution printers. Its …